What would you say to this teenager..

(some background: after 10th grade we go to junior college for two years and then go to university)

So here’s the question-

what would you tell this 16 year old

She has finished her school successfully and has been pretty confident and happy and safe and loved and positive so far.All these years she was very much looking forward to being an adult so she could have all the fun with the added element of freedom .

Now all she hears is life after school is very different . It is coming from her family and other elders who she has been learning from all this time. They say- The happy days are over. You will be by yourself, on your own, people won’t bother too much to guide you at every step. You will enter the real world and it is dangerous out there. There is so much struggle . You need to fight it to be able to make it there. You will never have the same kind of friendship after this age because people become selfish and mean and closed as they grow up. So never trust anyone.

She believes them and begins to feel fearful and discouraged and disappointed .

I want to know how you would make this teenager see the truth?

I cannot explain why I am doing this. I simply have a feeling that it will bring me more clarity and peace.

Two things that I have learned, the hard way, 1. You can do anything that you want or need to do. 2. For the most part you get to make the rules, define your reality or steer your future, as long as it is legal.

Now the secrets:

#1- Can be very difficult if you attempt to achieve something you are not prepared, if it is too grandious, requires too much money, materials or effort on a short timeline. If this occurs, stop, replay your efforts, extend your timeline, sometimes by years OR choose a new goal, lower your goals, do something less until you gather or gain whatever you are missing knowledge, training, funds, etc....

#2- Almost forces you to be your own boss, set yourself up to be a sub-contractor or anyway that allows you to be in charge of your time and efforts. This can be very difficult to achieve, so the answer is to do or make something the you completely totally love to do.

This is best defined as something that you can’t wait to wake up and do everyday, while you are doing it you never watch the clock, you have no problems working on during nights or weekends. This thing that you love to do will permit you to overcome any obstacles for, to put in the time to learn, or apprentice years maybe to gain the knowledge.

Loving the work that you do allows you gain the notoriety, fame, following or in the trade history that soon work will come to you, no longer will you have to look for jobs.

Another bit of knowledge you need to understand is that you can do anything, every job, task, effort or creation has worth, value and our world has a need for it, whatsoever IT is. From the smallest screw to the biggest creation, it all needs to be done for everything to work.

One other tidbit; education is NOT a path to success, fame nor happiness. There are actually PhD’s working on farms, not every task needs an fully educated engineer to achieve a goal. There was an old saying: “There are happier ditch diggers than company presidents”. Another great disadvantage of a college degree can be a lifetime of repaying you student loans, so if you can achieve what it is you love to do without a degree, don’t take on that burden if you don’t have to.

So sit and think about what you would love to do, investigate that work, confirm it is a worthwhile task and that you can get paid for it. Then determine what you need, want or have to learn or get so you can do this effort that you would love to do. Then start working toward getting this job you would love to do.

Final item, as you work doing this task that you love, money, fame, awards, and fortune will come to you. Never go after a job just to make money, 9 out of 10 times you will not gain or keep that job or the money for long unless your heart is in the work.

Good luck, find work you love and you will be happiest, gain fame and fortune worth more than any thing you do for a title or just money.

I am curious as to what you mean by seeing the truth? Life is what we make of it and this teenager's family & elders are seeing life through one lens. Their lens. They appear to have a rather pessimistic and fearful view of life. Why? Maybe their experiences. But their experiences are not this teenager's experiences nor do they have to be.

My parents and elders had somewhat tainted views on life. My dad especially is super negative about everything all the time. He is a good reminder to me of how I do not want to be. Therefore, I adopt a positive mindset or try to in most cases. I went to college right after 12th grade, but I knew that education was the path out of my parent's home and I'm savvy enough with money that I figured out ways to get costs down and came out relatively debt free. That education gave me a career and a good paying job. Many years later I decided I wanted to go to graduate school, but made a deal with myself that I would not do it unless I could do it debt free. Well I did do graduate school and came out of it debt free. Twice.

I have defied the odds pretty much my entire life, so I would encourage this teenager to listen to their instincts. Spend time figuring out who they are, what they want (now), and what sacrifices they are willing (and not willing) to make to get where they want to go in life. Keep in mind what you want as a teenager will change with age, so be flexible and realize the life path has lots of twists and turns.

All that said, the teenager should thank the elders/parents for their advice and then let it go. They should find like-minded friends who support their vision and goals. We can pick our friends, but not our family.

It is for me, for my teenage self. I only learnt LOA in my mid twenties.

I have been feeling very inspired to go back in time and replace the beliefs when they started forming. This was even before I read about Neville’s revision technique. Hence this post.

Thank you so much for sharing your life experience. It is very helpful, very encouraging. Only recently, I have begun to choose friends depending on whether or not they support my dreams and my happiness .

Note to self:

Listen to my instincts and figure out what I want from life and find like minded friends .

And also thank the people for their advice because they are telling me what they believe.